1-153-848 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

'The Death of Stalin,' 8th March, 1953. News and photographs of Stalin's death from L'Humanite Dimanche, published on the 8th March, 1953. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) was secretary-general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-53) and premier of the Soviet state (1941-1953). For a quarter of a century he dictatorially ruled the Soviet Union and transformed it into a major world power.